Asymmetry is understood to mean both a shape asymmetry, such as e.g. the heel reciprocation of a stocking or the toe seam of a sock, as well as a colour or weave asymmetry, such as e.g. a woven in tracer thread. In addition, textile goods not only cover woven and knitted goods made from fibrous materials, but also those produced in other ways from other materials, which have comparable characteristics, particularly with regards to elasticity and surface properties.
With few exceptions, socks and stockings are produced on circular knitting machines with a so-called reciprocated heel. The socks leave the knitting machine substantially in the form of a tube, having at the end a special shape known as the gore-line. This end is closed with a seam and then forms the sock toe. In the cross-section of the textile product the toe seam and heel are at right angles to one another.
Following toe sewing, as well as following knitting, the socks are bleached or dyed. They leave the bleaching or dyeing plants in an unattractive form comparable to that of socks after washing and must then be brought into a saleable state by shaping. In additions the textile goods have to be inspected for knitting or weaving faults or flaws, in order to eliminate faulty products. For this purpose it is known to draw the socks or stockings onto a flat plate and then examine them from both sides.
These operations involve a large amount of tiresome manual work and rapidly lead to fatigue and consequently to errors on the part of the person carrying out this work.
It is therefore an object of the invention to simplify and improve the handling, processing and inspection of textile goods between the initial production stages such as knitting and dyeing and the final production stages such as shaping, folding or packing, whilst in particular reducing the extensive, tiresome manual work.